Trip Description

This adventure ranks far and above the average day tour on any river. It begins in Delta where we load up for a breathtaking backroad trip through moon-like clay hills, and over the rim of the Black Canyon before we stop at road's end. Your guides will have arrived the day before to pack the rafts and lunch to the bottom of the canyon via horseback. A well-worn trail leads us a mile and about 1000 vertical feet to the bottom of the Gorge where our boats and cool green water await us. After a brief safety orientation, we're off! There is no time to warm up as we launch right into Chukar Rapid, our first Class III drop. Our day will be a mix of exciting drops and lazy quiet float time as we kick back and admire the towering black walls made of some of the planets oldest Precambrian schist and gneiss. After "Grand Finale" rapid, we quietly and reverently float the last bit of black walled canyon known as the "Hall of the River King" before we pop out into the bright and wide-open sandstone walled valley where the North Fork of the Gunnison joins the river, and our trip concludes.

Special Features:
The Gunnison Gorge is located just downstream from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument. Here, below the many dams of the monument, the river flows free once more through a spectacular narrow canyon. Clear, green water, glassy pools, foaming rapids, towering black granite cliffs. Scenery reminiscent of the Inner Gorge of the Grand Canyon makes the Gunnison a place not easily forgotten. This 14-mile stretch of gold medal trout water has been nominated for “Wild and Scenic River” designation. To get to the riverside requires a mile long hike down a narrow trail, the boats and group gear must be brought into the canyon on horseback the day before the trip. We are among only five outfitters with permits to run the Gunnison Gorge on a regular basis.